"No," Luke answered, "no headache. I feel fine. Why?"

Artoo's chirp was coyly innocent.

"No dizziness, no drowsiness. Even the scars are gone."

The next whistle rose questioningly in pitch.

"No, that's all right, Artoo. I'd rather keep it on manual control for a while."

Then the stout robot delivered a final whimper that sounded to Luke like a noise

of defeat. Luke was amused by the droid's concern for his health. "Trust me,

Artoo," Luke said with a gentle smile. "I know where I'm going and I'll get us there

safely. It's not far."

Han Solo was desperate now. The Falcon had still not been able to shrug off

the four TIE fighter or the enormous Star Destroyer that pursued it.

Solo raced down to the ship's hold and began to work frantically on repairing the

malfunctioning hyperdrive unit. It was all but impossible to carry out the delicate

repair work necessary while the Falcon shook with each blast of flak from the

fighters.

Han snapped orders at his copilot, who checked the mechanisms as he was

commanded. "Horizontal booster."

The Wookiee barked. It looked fine to him.

"Alluvial damper."

Another bark. That part was also in place.

"Chewie, get me the hydrospanners."

Chewbacca rushed over to the pit with the tools. Han grabbed the spanners,

then paused and looked at his faithful Wookiee friend.

"I don't know how we're going to get out of this one," he confided.

Just then a resounding thump hit the Falcon's side, making the ship pitch and

turn radically.

Chewbacca barked anxiously.

Han braced himself at the impact, the hydrospanners flew from his hand. When

he managed to regain his balance, he shouted at Chewbacca over the noise, "That was

no laser blast! Something hit us!"

"Han…Han…" Princess Leia called to him from the cockpit. She was frantic.

"Get up here!"

Like a shot, he lurched out of the hold and raced back to the cockpit with

Chewbacca. They were stunned by what they saw through the windows.

"Asteroids!"

Enormous chunks of flying rock hurtled through space as far as they could see.

As if those damn Imperial pursuit ships weren't trouble enough!

Han instantly returned to his pilot's seat, once more taking over the Falcon's

controls. His copilot settled himself back into his own seat just as a particularly

large asteroid sped by the prow of the ship.

Han felt he had to stay as calm as possible; otherwise they might not last more

than a few moments. "Chewie," he ordered, "set two-seven-one."

Leia gasped. She knew what Han's order meant and was stunned by so reckless

a plan. "You're not thinking of heading into the asteroid field?" she asked, hoping

she had misunderstood his command.

"Don't worry, they won't follow us through this!" he shouted with glee.

"If I might remind you, sir," Threepio offered, trying to be a rational influence,

"the probability of successfully navigating through an asteroid field is approximately

two thousand four hundred and sixty-seven to one."

No one seemed to hear him.

Princess Leia scowled. "You don't have to do this to impress me," she said, as

the Falcon was pummeled hard by another asteroid.

Han was enjoying himself enormously and chose to ignore her insinuations.

"Hang on, sweetheart," he laughed, grasping the controls more tightly. "We're

gonna do some flyin'."

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